"Thank you." Dave whispered to the nice receptionist. "Okay, let s see if the cookies were actually praise worthy"
"I promise you will love it" the Doctor had a faint smile on her lips and expectation in her eyes.
He took a bite of the delicious goodness and closed his eyes in ecstasy "This is divine"
"Haaa, that s the look I was waiting for." The Doctor took a bite of hers and rested her back on the chair. A nice and welcoming smile on her face, she d hoped that Dave would relax enough. And her trick had worked like magic. It was obvious that Dave was more than nervous to come to her. And she used one of her tricks to calm him. She had plenty of those tricks depending on the client. For Dave he was in hospitality business so he would appreciate good food.
"Thank you" David said to the kind Doctor after polishing off one of the soft and moist cookies. "I might just get used to coming here every day if I would be treated to this." Dave added with a small smile.
"That s the plan. The Doctor laughed. The ice had definitely been broken, the Doctor thought when he heard Dave asked
I thought I was meeting a male Doctor… you know with the name. Dave sat straight in his chair.
"Well that s my Last name. My husband s name…"
"Oh that explains it."
"But would you have preferred a male Doctor?"
"Gosh! No, and miss that divine cookies of yours!" Dave said dramatically.
"That s what I thought" the Doctor said, smiling. "So why don t you tell me about You, Mr. Dave?" she asked with a faint smile on her lips.
"Well, I m Dave Campbell. The first of two children, both my parents passed when I was young, and I run a business"
"Sorry, about your parents, but I m curious, what relationship did you share with your parents, when they were alive?"
"I loved my Mum, but Dad? Not so much"
"Why s that?"
"Because he likes to beat my mum for one, and me too when I try to stop him from hitting her sometimes"
The Doctor nodded, and wrote something down in her notepad "how did you cope with both of your parents gone at such a young age?" She asked
"I did what I had to do for survival. And thanks to Aunt Cecilia, she was staying in our neighborhood at the time" he said with bravado but the hunted look did not leave his eyes.
"Tell me about this Aunt Cecilia of yours."
"She s is a nice woman who was there for me and my sibling when we had nobody. But it turned out she did all that to assuage her guilt."
"How is that?"
Dave told the Doctor the part his Aunt took in the business transaction with his father and how she didn t tell him the truth.
"Why do you think she hid the truth from you?"
"I guessed she wanted to protect me from being hurt than I already am. But she should still have told me."
"You are angry with her too…" the Doctor prompted.
"Yes angry at her for hiding the truth."
"Would it have made any difference of how you feel about your Dad if Cecilia told you? I mean about your Dad and his business dealings, you know maybe then rationalize his behavior."
"I don t think so. Nothing was a rationale for what he did to her."
"So do you think it fair to keep holding your anger against a woman who was trying to protect you from being hurt? The Doctor asked without judgment. "I mean you have a right to how you feel but just for clarity sake I need to know."
Dave had not thought of it in that light. Why was he even angry at Cecilia? Was he just looking for who to hang is misfortune on, and Cecilia was just the next close person to blame. "I guess not" he said with nonchalance.
"Do you mind telling me more about your childhood?"
Dave squirmed in his chair. The dreaded question…. "I had a pretty decent childhood until I was a young teenager. When my dad would come home drunk" Dave supplied.
The Doctor observed his discomfort and prompted him on "But if you d rather not I mean… we can wait till you are more comfortable talking about it."
"No …hmm…it s not a problem." Dave reassured before he launched into the story of how his father started coming home drunk.
The good Doctor listened without interruption to every details and every expression.
"Tell me about your Mum?"
"She was the kindest person I know maybe she was too good for her own good."
"Why would you say that?"
"She took all of Dad s insults and beatings without ever standing up for herself" Dave said slightly angry with her mum for being so accepting of his cruel husband.
The Doctor noted something on her pad. "You said the last part with annoyance," she voiced her observation.
"Maybe I m a little annoyed she didn t stand up for herself, maybe if she did, she would still be here"
"And your Dad, What do you feel about him now?"
"I m still very angry at him. No woman should go through what my mum went through. He made all our lives miserable."
The Doctor noted on her pad.
The timer beeped, indicating the end of session.
"So how do you feel now?" the Doctor asked
"Slightly relieved especially about Cecilia"
"So I take that as a confirmation of our next appointment" it was half statement and half question.
"Of course, thank you Dr. Miguel." Standing up from his seat
The Doctor smiled, "Anytime Mr. Campbell. Please don t hesitate to call me if you need to talk"
"I ll put that in mind."